“Iraqi government forces fighting to drive Islamic State from western Mosul on Tuesday recaptured the main government building, the central bank branch and the museum where three years ago the militants had smashed statues and artifacts…

The militants looted the central bank when they took over the city in 2014 and took videos of themselves destroying statues and artifacts. Illegal traffic in antiquities that abound in the territory under their control, from the sites of Palmyra in Syria to Nineveh in Iraq, was one of their main sources of income.”

– Isabel Coles and John Davison, reporting for Reuters

Featured image taken by an unidentified militant & courtesy of Bloomberg, Associated Press